![[image] People would probably hate cars a lot less if they were limited in size and speed to a golf cart](https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/fcb4382e-b548-472d-95d1-b9ed667805da.jpeg){kind=link}
Pros of golf carts and neighborhood electric vehicles (NEVs) replacing all private cars within a city:
- Only goes as fast as a bicycle, so isn’t a viable suburban commuter vehicle, meaning you’ll probably only take it to the nearest transit station
- Only goes as fast as a bicycle, so isn’t likely to kill people
- Excellent visibility, so less likely to run over children
- Much smaller and lighter, so building parking garages for park-and-rides would be a lot cheaper and less objectionable than with our current style of cars
- Electric
- Smaller batteries than jumbo EVs
- Compatible with dense, transit-oriented city development
- Could be installed with mandatory speed limiters
Cons:
- Less profit for GM and ExxonMobil
My mom lives there, I left 3 years ago because the economy is in shambles and crime is out of control. Can I change it? No. Can any of the people I know change it? No. It’s like farting against thunder in that place, it’s been a downward trend since the end of Mandela’s presidency and the majority want the ANC to be in control, and the ANC keeps everyone uneducated enough to be able to use simple propaganda, gifts and lies to keep getting voted in term after term. I watched my country fall apart and be robbed blind by the corrupt government, I saw as more and more of her people lived in squalor and I was helpless to do anything about it. It hurt me enough that I had to leave, there was nothing I could do. Now I don’t have a car.
The point of my original comment is that cars are great for travelling long distances to places where there is no public transport, limiting them to bicycle speed negates all of that and will hinder people’s lives to an insane degree. Like for instance I would then probably need to take vacation to visit my mom for it to be worth the 10 hours of travel. And that’s not even going into the fact that you have to travel on one of the most dangerous highways in SA, if you break down or stop, it is guaranteed that you will be robbed or killed, if there’s heavy traffic, it’s guaranteed that some will be robbed in the traffic jam. Going down that highway at night at 25km/h is asking to get murdered or raped.
While a carless utopia and “just change it” are great ideas and all. Reality is far from that easy.
I’m so sorry for what you had to go through. I live in a shithole like this as well (thankfully m moving soon). I’m sorry you had to leave the place you grew up in. I’m sorry that you have to see your country fall apart right in front of your eyes. Trust me, I know the feeling. I know how much it hurts.
Absolutely correct! Far from easy, but not impossible. The people in this community (like not fuckcars specifically, but progressives in general) are trying to do this.
Also, they are not telling you specifically to give up your car. In fact, many of them use cars themselves. They are attempting to influence policy such that we can have transit centric infrastructure. Noone here would tell you to bike 10 hours to visit your mum.
I’m sorry you’re going through it too. I visited last year, it was the first time in 3 years and I miss it so much, but know there’s no future there for me. I hope where ever you are going will be good for you. It’s hard leaving home.
I now live in a place where I can get pretty much everywhere with a train, subway or bus, but I do still miss the freedom of having a car sometimes, especially when it comes to getting stuff from the hardware store, lol.